Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Get Skinny Without Giving Up The Foods You Love

By

The secret to not only losing weight but staying skinny is to eat. Eating regularly is the basis for all successful diets. As a matter of fact the whole definition of diet is a way of life and nothing speaks of life more than what we eat. A diet that will sustain you for life is one that is centered on food—that’s why you can learn to get skinny without giving up the foods you love.

I’ve selected some special favorites that have some extremely good attributes when it comes to helping you lose weight and cut down on saturated fat. Reducing the amount of saturated fats and choosing nutrient rich foods that help you to feel fuller longer will make a big difference in the amount of calories that you consume.

Greek Yogurt
Great as a snack, Greek yogurt is protein rich, an 8-ounce cup containing the equivalent of 3 ounces of chicken breast. It’s low in saturated fat and has the ability to keep you fuller for a longer period of time. Greek yogurt is a comfort food that can be as enjoyable to the body and soul as a cup of ice cream. Be sure to check the sugar content as not all yogurts are made the same.

Raspberries
Red raspberries are delicious for breakfast with a handful of nuts and a dollop of yogurt. However, you can enjoy them just about any time and they contain an important compound known as raspberry ketone that helps your body burn fat faster. Raspberry ketone is the primary aroma compound of red raspberries. This compound regulates adiponectin, a protein used by the body to regulate metabolism. Raspberry ketone causes the fat within your cells to get broken up more effectively, helping your body burn fat faster.

Green Tea
Drinking green tea can help prevent the storage of excess fat, improve your appetite-regulating hormones, lower food cravings and improve the way your body metabolizes food. Recent studies indicate that guzzling green tea can help you feel full between meals. Full of a phytonutrient called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), green tea increases the hormone responsible for making you feel satiated.

Watermelon
This cool tasting fruit is wonderful on a hot summer day but it’s also a super food when it comes to losing weight. A recent study showed that women who ate water-rich foods lost 33% more weight in the first 6 months than women on a low-fat diet. Watermelon also contains vitamins A and C, as well as the “mother of all antioxidants,” glutathione, which is known to help strengthen the immune system.

If none of these foods appeal to you, there are many other fresh foods that can help you stay skinny. You can eat the foods you love as long as you don’t over consume the amount of food needed to sustain your desired weight. The secret is to choose healthy foods that you love to eat and begin to integrate them into your diet.

Remember to eat more often if you want to stay skinny. Eating 5 meals a day instead of 3 meals a day can actually help you lose weight. Rather than consuming all of your calories in 3 meals, you will spread them out over the 5 meals. This way you can better control your hunger and food cravings. Also, make a habit of snacking on fruit or veggies rather than chips or candy. Small steps, little changes day by day will keep you skinny for life without having to give up the foods you love.

Cashew Chicken Salad Wrap

By

I love to make this ahead of time and serve it after bike riding with the boys, power walking with a friend or a fun game of tennis with a fierce competitor. It’s a great treat to have on hand when the kids get home from school or when my girlfriends stop by for a little get together.

Serves 4

1 head of lettuce / whole romaine good for wraps
1 Tbsp light or low fat mayo
1/4 fat-free sour cream
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 cups cooked, cut-up chicken (white meat)
1/2 cup celery, cut-up
2 green onions, cut-up
1/2 cup unsalted cashew pieces

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients, mayo, sour cream, garlic and mix well.
2. Put salad mixture and chicken in large bowl gently tossing till blended.
3. Serve over lettuce leaves.
4. Add cashews on top.

Health Benefits:
Chicken is a low fat and delicious meat that satisfies the appetite; it’s low in calories and a great source of protein. Cashews are also high in protein and a healthy mainstay to enjoy as a snack or a topping for meats, vegetables, yogurts, salads, oatmeal or pasta. Lettuce leaves round out this salad and add fiber and all kinds of nutrients. A good source of beta carotene, folate, manganese, iron and Vitamins C, K, and A.

When You Are Tired Of Being Tired

By

Do you often feel tired during the day? Have you ever fallen asleep at an inopportune time? It could be that you aren’t getting the proper amount of sleep each night. If you are getting less than 7-8 hours of sleep each day, chances are you are suffering from sleep deprivation.

Not getting enough sleep can be dangerous for your health. Sleep deprivation can interfere in the ability to focus, keeping you from being alert when you need to be. This can be increasingly dangerous when driving a car or operating large machinery. But not getting adequate sleep, even by shaving off an hour or two each night can lead to serious health issues and may even keep you from being able to lose weight.

Sleep is important to a woman’s body in particular. When a woman doesn’t get enough sleep, she puts her face in jeopardy too. Lines and wrinkles can look more prominent on a face that is puffy or swollen from sleeplessness. A woman’s body needs sleep in order to reduce inflammation and to decrease stress. These factors can wreak havoc on the complexion.

But vanity aside, when we don’t get enough sleep, we feel tired. Feeling tired, especially day after day, can leave us feeling grumpy and unhappy too. When we feel tired all of the time, it deprives us of our creativity and critical thinking. We are just to tired to think and that can lead to unhappiness and a decrease in production both in our professional and personal lives.

I know many times there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. It’s easy to just delay bedtime by an hour or two to finish a project or clean the house, however, the following day you may feel so tired that you actually get less done than you would have if you had all your strength to go at full speed.

Make a point of getting into bed at a specific time each night. Come up with the same routines closer to bed to train your mind and body to wind down and relax at this time each day. Warm baths, reading, soothing music or sweet love making are all wonderful ways to get your body ready for bedtime.

Comparing Apples To Oranges

By

I’ve always heard that you can’t compare apples to oranges. Now usually that’s just a saying that applies to comparing two matters that are totally different. However, when it comes to nutrition, you might want to combine rather than compare your apples and oranges.

Both type of fruit are healthy choices, both supply much needed vitamins and nutrients and both are good for the heart. Depending on your own personal tastes, whether choosing apples of oranges, each is delicious and easy to eat for any meal at home or on the go.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
This is no myth. Eating an apple a day is a sweet way to eat healthy. Apples contain flavonoids, which are awesome antioxidants that zap free radicals and reduce inflammation. Reducing inflammation helps to guard your body from diseases and other illnesses.

As often as possible, eat the peeling of the apple too. Many of the nutrients in the apple are located in the peeling and it helps to add fiber too. Apples helps to break down foods in the digestive system and alleviates constipation.

Oranges are nature’s sunshine.
These citrus beauties remind me of a big ball of sunshine. So bright and pretty, a bowl of oranges makes a great table decoration. However, with their refreshingly sweet taste and bountiful health benefits, a bowl full usually doesn’t last long, at least not at my house.

A great source of vitamin C and potassium, the juice from the orange is an excellent way to start the day. Low in saturated fat, the citric acid aids in digestion and oranges are also high in fiber that’s why drinking orange juice is such a healthy breakfast juice.

Comparing apples to oranges, both are high in fiber and nutrients. Although each tastes different, they go great together in a fruit salad. However, because both are acidic, they usually need a non-citric food like bananas or honey melon to cut the effects of the citric acid. Low fat, low calories, low in sodium and low in calories, apples and oranges are the popular choice among many.

Planning Your Workout

By

When you want a successful women’s fitness program, the first thing you must do is plan your workout. It must fit into your lifestyle if it is ever going to work for you. It can’t just happen on its own; you are one who must make it work and the only way to ensure that is to make a plan for your workout.

If you plan to go to the gym or play tennis three times a week, you must record it on your calendar, arrange for a time that you will do your activity and then plan the rest of your schedule around your workout. Now, that may be different than anything you have ever done. Planning your schedule around your workout. But if you want to be successful and make women’s fitness a permanent part of your life, then you have to make it as important as going to work. You must be committed, dedicated and believe that this is something that is vital to your health and longevity.

When planning your workout, be sure to challenge your skills by setting goals for yourself. You can make short term goals like adding more reps or sets and you can make longer term goals for more intense training like adding circuits.

The important thing is to make a plan, and one way to help you make and keep that plan of action is to keep a fitness journal. Journaling helps to bring about positive changes in your life by making you accountable for everything you eat and drink and the amount of energy expended to burn calories and fat.

After a long hard day, going to the gym might be the last thing you want to do. This is why planning your workout is so important, especially if your goal is to lose weight and get in shape. For many of us, losing weight and staying fit lifestyle changes that we want to make permanently. Planning your workout in advance is one way of ensuring that you stick with these goals.

Record your plan in writing and make several copies. Attach one to the refrigerator, put one in your purse and take another one to work with you. Like any other important activity, if you want to make exercise work for you, you must treat it with respect and make it a priority in your life. Make plans today to begin planning your workout for tomorrow, it’s that sort of commitment that will help you achieve your goals.